Detection of Pb II in the Ultraviolet Spectra of Three Metal-poor Stars

We report the first detection of the Pb ii line at 2203.534 Å in three metal-poor stars, using ultraviolet spectra obtained with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph on board the Hubble Space Telescope. We perform a standard abundance analysis assuming local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) to derive lead (Pb, Z = 82) abundances. The Pb ii line yields a higher abundance than Pb i lines by +0.36 ± 0.34 dex and +0.49 ± 0.28 dex in the stars HD 94028 and HD 196944, where Pb i lines had been detected previously. The Pb ii line is likely formed in LTE, and these offsets affirm previous calculations showing that Pb i lines commonly used as abundance indicators underestimate the Pb abundance in LTE. Pb is enhanced in the s-process-enriched stars HD 94028 ([Pb/Fe] = +0.95 ± 0.14) and HD 196944 ([Pb/Fe] = +2.28 ± 0.23), and we show that 208Pb is the dominant Pb isotope in these two stars. The (Pb/Eu) ratio in the r-process-enhanced star HD 222925 is 0.76 ± 0.14, which matches the solar system r-process ratio and indicates that the solar system r-process residuals for Pb are, in aggregate, correct. The Th/Pb chronometer in HD 222925 yields an age of 8.2 ± 5.8 Gyr, and we highlight the potential of the Th/Pb chronometer as a relatively model-insensitive age indicator in r-process-enhanced stars.